


I'll keep you safe

by taynicola



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, With A Twist, post-reveal, this is just gratuitous ladrien fluff, years of shoujo prepared me for this moment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 11:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6193099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taynicola/pseuds/taynicola
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien gets turned into a child and Ladybug has to care for him. AKA 2k of disgusting ladrien fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll keep you safe

**Author's Note:**

> this was so self-indulgent i'm so sorry. forcing a bunch of (semi-unrealistic) things to happen just so I can get Ladybug with kid Adrien. Anyway i hope you like it! <3

Marinette cupped her ice cream bowl in her hands, enjoying the coldness on her hands and the late sun on her back. She watched Adrien from across the table, thinking inevitably back to their first real date (if you could call it that) two years ago. It’d been just after their identities had been revealed, and they’d both been far less relaxed than they were right now. How do you deal with knowing that the person you’d sat next to for so long was actually your crime fighting partner? How do you deal with the complication of feelings?

The answer is, not very well. That first day of ice cream had been awkward and unsure and filled with stutters.

It’s okay, though. They figured it out.

Between then and now, Marinette and Adrien had eventually settled into a comfortable partnership, with and without the masks. Things had never been better.

Adrien finally caught Marinette’s eye from across the table and flashed his cat’s grin. “Happy Anniversary, Princess.”

“Happy Anniversary,” Marinette said, smiling wider.

Adrien conspiratorially ate a spoon of ice cream, narrowing his eyes at her. “Although, I still think we should celebrate twice. Once for us, and once for—“

Marinette cut him off. “You just want an excuse to eat more ice cream.

Nodding eagerly, Adrien said, “Is that so wrong? This stuff is amazing. You could almost say it’s—“

“Don’t.”

“Dairy-licious.”

Marinette sighed into her hand and Adrien laughed. After a few moments of good natured head-shaking, Marinette chuckled too. “Oh by the way, I was thinking that we—“

Marinette was cut off by a loud yell as a brightly colored figure stomped down the street. The sound was concussive enough to make both Marinette and Adrien clamp their hands over their ears.

“I want _every_ grown-up!” it screeched. “The world will be Youthanized!” The akuma was short, small enough to be a child, and it was covered in bright patterns and swirls.

Marinette glanced at Adrien. Not a moment passed before they rushed into practiced action, running together into the nearest alleyway. As soon as they were sure they were unobserved, they stood back to back and spoke in unison.

“Tikki, spots on!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

Once they’d revealed their citizen identities, they’d spent a lot more time together, so transforming at the same time became a regular occurrence. It was only natural that they develop a routine for it.

As Marinette and Adrien became Ladybug and Chat Noir, their figures danced around each other. It was a shame, really, that no one was around to see their joint transformation. After years of working and fighting together, transforming together was as fast, smooth, and beautiful as a rushing river.

Once they’d both transformed, they wasted no time before confronting the akuma.  Suddenly faced with two powerful superheroes, the akuma victim briefly stopped charging down the street.

“Hawkmoth, I can’t believe you made another child into an akuma,” Chat Noir said, leaning on his baton. “Even for you, that’s pretty small.” He flashed a grin in Ladybug’s direction and she ignored it.

“You can’t stop me, Ladybug and Chat Noir,” the akuma screeched. “All grown-ups will be Youthanized! Adults are too mean and too… too mean! ”

“You said that already,” Chat Noir pointed out.

“Shut up!” The akuma wailed, throwing its arm out and shooting a blast of bright colored light directly at Chat Noir. Ladybug deflected the blast with her yo-yo at the last second.

“Easy there, _mon chaton,_ don’t ruffle this one’s feathers too much,” she said.

Even more enraged by its failed attack, the akuma spun around, shooting even more blasts of light at the last few lingering citizens. A few of the citizens managed to avoid getting hit, but the ones that didn’t were shrunk down to half size.

Chat looked on in confusion. “Is it… shrinking them?”

“No,” Ladybug said, realizing. “It’s making them children. It’s—oh. It’s Youthanizing them. I get it.”

Chat raised his eyebrows at her, not understanding.

“Youthanizing? Like, euthanize, to put an animal dow— shouldn’t you be the one explaining this to _me_?” Ladybug was so taken aback at Chat not grasping the pun that she didn’t notice the Youthanizer had returned its attention back to her and had shot another blast at them. Lucky, Chat noticed and knocked it aside before it hit either of them.

“Maybe we should focus on the akuma, my lady.”

“Good idea.”

And with that, they rushed the Youthanizer, baton twirling and yo-yo flying. The akuma was fast, but it didn’t seem to have any form of attack other than its youth-blast, so after a brief but intense fight the akuma started retreating, shooting youth-blasts in every direction.

“The akuma,” Ladybug yelled to her partner. “It’s got to be somewhere on that arm.”

“Got it,” Chat said, and charged after the Youthanizer.

Ladybug whirled her yo-yo around and flung it after the Youthanizer’s wrist, hoping to immobilize the blast-weapon, whatever it was. But the Youthanizer was ready for her, and was already charging a blast.

“Chat, wait!” Her warning came too late, and Chat Noir was engulfed in brightly colored pulses of light. “Chat Noir!” Ladybug yelled again.

She released her yo-yo from the akuma and ran after Chat. Or rather… after Adrien. Sitting where Chat Noir stood just moments ago was a child with a familiar blond head, albeit a little closer to the ground. He was clad in oversized clothes—Adrien’s clothes.

Ladybug was so stunned that she wasn’t paying attention as the akuma yelled something else and charged down the street away from her. As the dust from their battle settled and the noise from the wailing akuma got farther and farther away, Ladybug slowly knelt down beside the small yawning child.

He was maybe 7 or 8 years old, and looked just like she imagined Adrien had looked at that age. Soft cheeks, round nose, and enormous green eyes.

_Of course it looks like him,_ she silently chided herself. _It_ is _him._ Even though she’d seen it happen right before her eyes, Ladybug couldn’t quite believe it. Toddler Adrien. _Oh, man, am I doomed._  

Those huge green eyes found hers and immediately widened. “Wow,” he said, voice slightly more high-pitched than his adult counterpart’s. “Pretty lady,” he whispered.

Despite herself, Ladybug chuckled. “Do you remember what happened?” she asked softly.

Adrien shook his head rapidly from side to side, never breaking eye contact.

Ladybug sighed. _That would be too easy,_ she thought. “Well in that case,” she said, and gave a little wave. “Hi, Adrien. My name’s Ladybug, and I’ll keep you safe.”

“How do you know my name?” he asked, eyes wide.

Ladybug couldn’t help but smile slightly. “Well, you were changed into your child self by a bad guy, but when you’re older, you and I are friends.”

Adrien’s eyes widened even further. “I’m friends with Ladybug?” he whispered, awestruck.

Ladybug chuckled a little and nodded. “Yeah,” she said. “Best of friends.”

At this, Adrien finally broke eye contact. “Wow,” he said, drawing the word out and making Ladybug chuckle again. “I’m friends with Ladybug! That’s so cool!”

Ladybug was touched. She wasn’t sure what memories Adrien had left, but watching him be so awestruck over her (even if it wasn’t completely him) was too sweet to handle. Ladybug glanced down the street where the akuma had disappeared. She _should_ go after it… But someone needed to take care of Adrien, too. Ladybug pretended to worry over the decision for a minute, although for whose benefit, she didn’t know. How could she resist? Of course she was going to stay and protect him. At least for a little while.

Ladybug slapped on her kindest smile and said, “Well, we should go. I want to get you somewhere safe.” Ladybug thought of her attic room.

Adrien gasped. “Are we gonna fly?”

“I—what? Fly?”

“Yeah!” Adrien’s face was pure, unfiltered joy. “With your yo-yo! I want to fly!”

Ladybug laughed. “It’s not flying it’s… accelerated grappling.”

“Then can we accel—allecser—allecs—“ he stuttered over the word before Ladybug interrupted him.

“No, I’m sorry _,_ it’s too dangerous.”

Adrien’s face fell into the most profound pout Ladybug had ever seen. “Please!” He elongated the word and stared up at her, eyes wide.

Ladybug had finally strengthened her resolve against Manon’s baby-doll eyes. But this… this was different. This was _Adrien,_ child Adrien, pleading with the widest, greenest, and most hopeful eyes, and Ladybug couldn’t handle it.

“Oh, no, don’t…” she said, pleading.

When he realized it was working, Adrien pouted his mouth even further and tilted his head at her.

Ladybug half covered her face with her hand. _Resist,_ she told herself. _It’s too… you can’t… oh man._ Giving up in an impulsive burst, Ladybug half shouted, “Fine!” Adrien’s face lit up, ecstatic. He attempted to jump up and down in joy, but ended up tripping over his oversized pants, laughing.

Ladybug helped him up, also laughing, and made him promise he would hold on _extremely_ tight. He promised with all the enthusiasm of—well, of a child. Ladybug knelt down again and he wrapped his arms around her neck. She began twirling her yo-yo, and said to him, “You ready?” He nodded vigorously, and Ladybug leapt into the air.

Adrien’s gasp of surprise and following shouts of delight caused Ladybug to smile so hard she thought her jaw might split in half. At first, she was hyper focused on keeping her hold on him and making sure her yo-yo didn’t fail her that. But when Adrien began laughing, the joyful, contagious laugh of a child, Ladybug found herself laughing too. She lost herself in the euphoria of flying through Paris as the sun began to set.

At one point, after Adrien had excitedly pointed to the Eifel Tower, she landed them at its very peak, just as the lights began to come on. Adrien watched the city slowly darken with wide eyes. He planted a big, chaste kiss on her cheek and said, “Thank you, Ladybug.” There was a touch of tiredness at the edge of his voice.

Ladybug felt a warm surge of affection wash over her. Yo-yo-ing around the city with a child version of Adrien wasn’t exactly how she’d imagined their anniversary going, but she didn’t care. She also knew, in the back of her head, that there was an akuma out there she needed to take care of, but again, she didn’t care. She smiled as Adrien put his head on her shoulder and watched the sun finally slip under the horizon. Once the city finally darkened, she heard a faint snore come from Adrien, and she tried not to laugh. Carefully retrieving her yo-yo, she zoomed away.

Somehow, Adrien managed to stay asleep in her arm all the way to her house. She eased open the trap door and gingerly placed him on her covers, careful not to wake him. She took a second to watch his small, soft face. Even as a child, the love she felt for this boy was astounding.

_Now,_ she thought. _To find that akuma._ Thinking quickly, she scrawled a quick note on a post-it and put it on the wall by her pillow, just in case he woke up before she returned, and headed back out into the city.

It wasn’t hard to find the Youthanizer. It was near the Champs-Élysées, shooting blasts of light at every citizen it could. Ladybug felt a twinge of guilt at letting its rampage go on for so long, but she focused on the fight. Eventually, with the use of her lucky charm (a tube of paint), she managed to retrieve and break the cursed item (a friendship bracelet). She cleansed the akuma and threw her lucky charm into the sky.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

All around her, children were returning to their adult selves, and a brightly colored villain became an innocent child once again. She helped him up and helped him find his parents (luckily they were actually close by) before whirling away on her yo-yo, back to her house.

She opened her trapdoor, unsure of what she would see, but was happy to see a still-sleeping, normal-aged Adrien curled on her bed. As she eased down next to him, he woke up and turned to face her, smiling sleepily.

“My Lady,” he said. “Did you cleanse the akuma?”

“I did,” she said, kissing the tip of his nose. “I told you I would keep you safe.”

Adrien closed his eyes and chuckled softly. “Thank you for that amazing view. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to _mon chaton,_ doesn’t it?”

Ladybug laughed a little through her yawn, and said, “I think I liked you better when you were a kid. You’re even more infatuated with me as a child then you are now.”

As Ladybug’s earrings gave their final warning beep, she and Adrien curled into each other. “I doubt it,” Adrien said. “Happy Anniversary.”

“Happy Anniversary,” Marinette said, transformation finally wearing off. The two of them dozed in each other’s arms, the strange events of that day fading away to an easy sleep.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> where was plagg during all this? the world may never know (aka i was too lazy to factor that in)


End file.
